Superplastic Deformation of Nano-Sized α-Sialon Ceramics

In previous report, we succeeded in preparing dense nano-sized ceramics with the composition of Y- α-sialon (m=1.35, n=0.675) by high-energy mechanical milling followed by spark plasma sintering. The superplastic deformation of the obtained nano-ceramics was studied in this report. A good ductility of the nano-sized ceramics has been confirmed, which arised from the nano-sized grains and large amount of transient liquid phase. The effects of deformation on the phase and microstructural evolution were also studied. The nano-sized grains promoted the formation of elongated α-sialon grains during post-annealing at 1850oC for 3 h, which would strengthen and toughen the deformed ceramics.